This video was inspired by a visit to Mastodon State Park seeing and touching Mastodon bones and learning about prehistoric, Paleo-indian Clovis culture. We followed up with experiential activities on our land, throwing with an atlatl that we bought online, flint napping facilitated by a parent, cooking meat on a spit over a fire, tearing of the meat and eating it with our hands, and plenty of “close your eyes and imagine” guided imagery informed by our study of the the past. We also led the children to do an archaeological dig with help from yet another parent on our school’s property at LaBarque Creek. After digging three feet down in sandy soil under a shelter cave, we actually found pottery shards and flint tool flakes from the Woodland period dating 1,000 to 3,000 years ago.

Some students wrote their living histories in “imagined Clovis”, and wrote their own dictionary of imagined Paleo language. The reader had to use the student created dictionary to translate the text. The boy in this video, age nine, read what he wrote as a script to the video. His appearance in the video was from a visit to our land on LaBarque Creek. Kids imagined exactly where it would be most strategic to chase a Mastodon off a real cliff that they have climbed on, or to corner it up against an actual bluff that they know. They have brushed up against ferns and mosses those places that are not abstractions but real and touchable.

This was an important element of place-based education. The students merged their academic and abstract understanding of ten thousand years ago with real topography and features of the land they walk on again and again today. I believe the connection of place and understanding is deeper than academic. It approaches a hidden understanding that we rarely speak of that is potentially spiritual, emotional and transformative. The effort required for this curriculum design was made more sustainable with a strong partnership with parents. The outcome was priceless as is so much project-based, place-based, play-based, experiential and Educating for Sustainability inspired curriculum design.

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Join Antioch Core Faculty David Sobel and Tom Julius at the 2015 Green Schools National Conference, March 5-6, in Virginia Beach, Virginia!

As the only national conference bringing together experts and stakeholders to influence sustainability throughout K-12 schools and school districts, the annual Green Schools National Conference has grown in terms of attendance and scope. Colleagues who share their passion and offer their own green schools experiences collaborate with thought leaders and early adopters of green school best practices. Attendees are passionate about transforming schools. The annual conference is designed to share creative strategies for success so attendees can take home real-life tools that can transform schools.

“This year’s Green Schools National Conference focuses on how any K-12 educational institution—private, public, charter, or public charter—can adopt very simple, affordable practices to green their school,” says Jennifer Seydel, executive director of Green Schools National Network. “As the Virginia Beach district has demonstrated, it doesn’t take a multi-million dollar budget or years of planning. It only takes a commitment and can begin with easy-to-implement programs and policies that can make a big difference.”

Antioch’s David Sobel will lead two breakout sessions. During his first session “Nature-based Early Childhood in North America” on March 5 at 10:00 am, participants will explore the academification of kindergarten in the United States and the growing movement to “naturalize” early childhood with a focus on helping children develop initiative and grit. The session will include an outdoors activity, as well as a discussion about the value of letting children get their hands dirty and their feet wet.

Sobel will also participate as a co-presenter in “Updating the National Action Plan or Educating for Sustainability” on Thursday at 2:00 pm along with Jaimie Cloud, president, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education; Lisa Kensler, associate professor, Auburn University; and Jenny Wiedower, K-12 manager, The Center for Green Schools at USGBC. During this session, attendees will work along Work alongside the leading minds and the strongest champions of sustainability education to make updates and modifications to the National Action Plan for Educating for Sustainability, and understand your unique role and contribution to advancing the shared vision of graduating all students educated for sustainability by 2040.

More than 1,200 attendees are expected including people from all walks of “green” including teachers, students, school administrators from all levels, business community leaders, architects, environmental services, consultants, corporate partners, curriculum specialists, custodial supervisors, governmental agencies, environmental educators, finance specialists, school food service personnel, green building professionals, green team members, school habitat specialists, transportation managers, parents, health and safety coordinators, sustainability managers, and many others.

The Green Schools National Network has created a “culture of collaboration,” as a result of year-round networking and partnerships, and through an annual national conference. We bring together like-minded people committed to the creation and support of healthy, green and sustainable schools.

About the Green Schools National Network: The Green Schools National Network (GSNN) advances the national green and healthy schools movement by connecting like-minded and passionate education, non-profit, corporate and public sector individuals and organizations. GSNN is nationally recognized as the premier partner in advancing collaboration to integrate a green and healthy culture in schools and ensure that current and future generation of students are environmentally literate as well as practice and promote sustainability in their community.

Imagining solutions to the climate crisis involves imagining solutions to a host of other social problems, from economic inequality to public health to job creation to indigenous rights—even to the quality of the food we eat. As the This Changes Everything team writes: “Climate change is more than an issue, it’s a message, one that is telling us that many of our culture’s most cherished ideas about our place in the world—from the quest for endless economic growth to the assumption of Western supremacy to the limitless capacity of humans to dominate nature—are no longer viable.” Rethinking Schools editorializes: “Confronting the climate emergency … demands that young people exercise their utopian imaginations to consider alternatives of all kinds.”

We all have a passion for education. Where we learn matters. The Center for Green Schools at the U.S Green Building Council is inviting communities from around the world to take action on school campuses for the Third Annual Green Apple Day of Service in fall 2014. On the Day of Service, students, teachers, and community members are encouraged to plan a school-wide sustainability project utilizing local volunteers to create a positive environmental change.

In the first two years, over 3,000 Green Apple Day of Service events took place in more than 41 countries.Projects included planting school gardens, collaborating on clean-ups, or hosting e-waste recycling drives. Schools also create custom projects that cater to their community’s specific needs. Learn about more project ideas that will happen in schools around the world.

Green Apple Day of Service creates awareness around the importance of green schools and propels a movement emphasizing sustainable lifestyles for youth and generations to come. Schools are invited to register green projects, and read more about this transformative campaign at mygreenapple.org”

Boot clad and bundled, seventeen kindergartners shuffle out of the heavy school doors. As they emerge, each breath suddenly becomes visible mixing with the cold, penetrating air. Standing poised at the door, one student, the “door holder,” waits until his or her last classmate has emerged. The students move confidently behind their teacher, Eliza Minnucci, who strides purposefully towards the nearby trail system, a mere 20 yards from the school doors. Today is Friday, Forest Friday. – See the whole article at the Community Works Journal website.